Yes indeed. Sony designed the Vita to be answer to every demand out there;
Hey, iPhones are popular, let's add a touch screen.
Hey, social media is hot right now, let's add 3G.
Hey, innovative gameplay is a hit, let's add a gyroscope and back touch pad.
Hey, let's add GPS since most tech have it these days.
In the end, they get confused and fail to reach a niche market.
With all that said and done, Sony made a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Touchscreens are becoming incredibly commonplace on mobile devices. It's just a fact. They're better for multimedia and such.
3G, admittedly I think it's a bit unnecessary on the Vita, but it's used for what 3G is used for plus some. Like they make quite a few Vita games leaderboard-centric so you can constantly compete on-the-go. I actually kinda like it. Mind you I don't have 3G but the Vita has compelled me for the only time in my life to care about leaderboards (Super Stardust Delta).
Gyroscopes are also becoming very commonplace. The back touchpad, again its unnecessary, but it does work very well for some things I'd never have though of.
GPS, um, see the rest of my points.
I don't see how having these things makes them "fail to reach a niche market". Also, since when did people strive to reach niche markets? They're not like Atlus, who makes games pretty much only for a niche market (at least in EU/US). You want to reach a big audience, especially when you're the one making the product.
As for the topic at hand, Sony has acknowledged plenty of times that it wants sales to do better and such. They've put out numerous statements saying "Software is our priority" and "Bundles can help sell it but a price cut may come next year". This is just another article in a long line of samey articles.
Way to go Guild, you can defend the Vita as hard as you can, but it'll never catch on as a portable system compared to the DS, or even the 3DS.
Let me explain you why:
I've been trying to say this many times, but it seems nobody listens.
So let me give you a little history lesson:
When I was in high school in 1989 ( I'm old ) , Nintendo came up with the Game Boy.It was black and white,it wasn't backlit, and it was less powerful then the current gen home console systems.But never the less , it became very successful and it sold millions worldwide.
Around the same time, more or less, Atari tried to sell a fantastic handled called " Lynx " and Sega had another marvelous handled called " Game Gear ", and a few more came along the way. They all had bigger, brighter and colorful backlit displays. However,
they all failed miserably.
Yes, you can blame it on the poor marketing choices, or short battery life, but the real reason was that they were just too good to be handled systems, so much ahead of their time that they could graphically compare to home consoles ( does it ring a bell , Vita/PS3 ? ) but exactly because they were so powerful,
they failed.
It was actually easy for developers to port over home console games ( just like the Vita is getting its share of ports ) so instead of getting some fresh, innovative games built to be played on the go, people were getting dumbed down versions of home console games, ( PSP/PS2 anyone ? Without the second analog stick ? ) .
After the initial " woo " people were getting bored of playing the same games they had been playing more comfortable on their home systems.
The Game Boy had its limits. BIG limits. A ridiculous greenly display at 160 x 144 pixels, which was so low res that you couldn't
possibly port anything directly from the home consoles, thus forcing developers to think ' outside of the box ' and start creating new, original games, and what games may I say !
Plus it was cheap, with an incredible sturdy build quality ( I remember people flushing their GBs down the toilet and they would still work , or the one that's on display at the Nintendo world store that survived a bombing in Afghanistan ) it was child friendly and it came with every adults favorite
Tetris !!
Can't you see why Nintendo succeeded over and over again with their handled strategy ? It's quite simple actually: Do a moderate update to the current hardware, with just enough improvement to justify the purchase, keep it one generation behind and keep it cheap. It will sell, and games will be tailor made for the system ( that's why we have such a huge, diverse library on the DS ).
What does Sony do ? Well being Sony the arrogant electronic giant that it is , they just think one dimensionally:
Whatever is out there, let's do it bigger and better, more powerful ( PS3 graphics on the go ? Come on, I'm so comfortable playing Uncharted on my couch in front of my 46" TV...).
And that the way it's always been ever since the PS2 launched.
And that's why the Vita will fail ( not miserably, but I bet you that it won't be extremely successful either ), because it's so powerful that real console games can be successfully ported over ( history repeats itself ).
And with better graphics and more power, developers feel the pressure of releasing big budget games that aren't exactly the best thing to play while waiting at the bus stop for example.
And smart phones. Everybody can get their quick game fixes on their phones these days.
Besides, by 2012, people aren't wooed any longer by spectacular graphic, they have iPhones, iPads, smart phones and android devices of all kind ( my 12 years old nephew has a Galaxy Samsung s3 that blows my Wii, DS and PSP away !).
People need fun , unique and original games that can't be played on a frigging phone !
So Sony got it completely wrong with the Vita. As they got it wrong with the PSP ( as much as I love my PSP3000 ) .
It's not a marketing problem,
it's an hardware problem.
I might be interested in playing good Vita exclusive games ( if there will be any ) maybe laying on my bed, but if I were to get one, I just couldn't see myself bringing it outside of the house.
But then again I could do just that with the lighter, bigger Wii U controller, so why bother ?
Nintendo will always be king of the handled market, they just got the right formula ( in a nutshell cheap, underpowered hardware but with some kind of innovation to justify the purchase).
So forget about the marketing; whatever Sony will say to try to convince me that I need a Vita, won't really make a difference to me. The games DO make a difference !
P.S.
Edited the post for a few misspelled words and because apparently it made people eyes bleeding
!
